LONDON (Alliance News) - Retailer Signet Jewelers Ltd on Thursday said its pretax profit for its 2015 financial year fell due to higher costs, but said revenue surged in the year on the back of higher fourth quarter sales and the acquisition of Zale Corp.
Bermuda-based Signet, which operates Kay Jewelers and Jared in the US along with H. Samuel and Ernest Jones in the UK, said its pretax profit for the year to the end of January was USD540.6 million, down from USD566.5 million a year earlier, primarily due to costs related to the acquisition of Zale in May, which Signet bought for USD1.4 billion.
Total sales rose to USD5.74 billion from USD4.21 billion a year earlier, with a big boost provided in the fourth quarter when sales rose to USD2.28 billion from USD1.56 billion.
Same-store sales for the group rose 4.1% for the year, with a 4.2% growth in the fourth quarter. In the fourth quarter, its Sterling Jewelers division saw same stores sales rise 3.7%, while UK same store sales rose 7.5% in the quarter. Zale also saw sales rose 3.7% in the fourth quarter, and Signet said it is making good progress integrating the company into its operations.
Signet also said its e-commerce sales boomed in the fourth quarter, up to USD149.6 million from USD79 million a year earlier, primarily due to the contribution from Zale.
Signet increased its quarterly cash dividend by 22% to 22 US cents per share from 18 cents a year earlier.
"We had an outstanding finish to another strong year of growth for Signet. The disciplined execution of our focused strategies drove broad-based success across all of our divisions and store brands," said Chief Executive Officer Mark Light.
Shares in Signet were down 3.2% to 8,300.00 pence on Thursday.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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